CHOICES, CHOICES, CHOICES

Written by Graham Tope and published in Paddington Times on Wed 14th Jan 2004

At the moment, when it comes to our schools and hospitals, we hear a lot of talk from Labour and the Tories about the word 'choice'.

On the face of it this all seems a good idea. The thought behind what these politicians are saying to people is quite straightforward. They are saying that when you go into a supermarket you have a 'choice' of several washing powders. As a shopper, you can 'choose' the brand you want and go to the checkout and pay for that product. Good so far.

However, when it comes to public services, a quick look in the history books tells us that this exercising of 'choice' has never been as successful as either Conservatives or Labour would have us believe.

Let me give one of many examples I could have used. In the early 1990's, the pensions world was deregulated to give the public a 'choice' in the type of pension scheme that people could opt for. Nice idea, but following stock market crashes, the Equitable life scandal and mis-selling of pensions it seems that 'choice' wasn't so good for the public after all.

When it comes down to it 'choice', in the big things in life, doesn't necessarily get you the best deal. There are too many questions surrounding how you 'chose' your hospital or school. For example, how do you find out which school or hospital provides the best services? Where will you get this information from and, more importantly, from who?

Even when you have got the 'choice' of school or hospital that you want, then presumably, as it is the best in the area, there will be thousands of other people that will be 'choosing' that school or hospital as well. There are only limited beds or places, so either you will have to go elsewhere and be disappointed or you will have to wait in a long queue with everyone else that 'chose' to go there.

This also fails to tackle the problem with schools or hospitals that are classed as poor or failing. Do we leave these to rot and invest in only those that are good? Or do we want to pay schools and hospitals that have spare places in the hope that they improve and it encourages more people to go to these institutions?

Coming back to the washing powder argument shows how problematic this all could be. If there is too little powder being made you can make more. With a school or hospital it takes years to get extra classrooms or beds. Alternatively, if a washing powder is rubbish, then the business closes down. Should that happen with a school or a hospital that still has patients and pupils in it?

For me the answer is simpler. Instead of and illusion of 'choice' we should work towards having first class local schools and hospitals across every Borough instead of a 'choice' between an overcrowded good school or hospital or one that is empty and failing. That to me is then really a 'choice'.